contrast and compare rene descartes and john locke using the sources below

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Analysis of Descartes and Locke 's Epistemology

Rene Descartes and John Locke are among the most distinct philosophers of the modern period . Both have constructed their own philosophies on the theory of Knowledge . How knowledge is achieved and what constitute knowledge are the most fundamental questions that are essential in the inquiry on knowledge

Though both Descartes and Locke have arrived at exceptional theories and frameworks on epistemology , the two have been known as the great critic of one another . Being a rationalist , Descartes

holds that knowledge can be achieved through reason . However , Locke maintains that only through experience that a person can have knowledge about something . Thus , their views directly contradict one another

Descartes ' Theory of Knowledge

Rene Descartes is one of the most renowned rationalists of the modern age who asserts that knowledge can be obtained by means of reason . He claims that in the pursuance of knowledge one should be able to differentiate what is true and what is false . This leads to his opposition against the idea of experience as a source of knowledge

As how Descartes claims it , one should not rely on experience as a source of knowledge for the reason that experience is deceptive as how a person 's sensory organs can bring deception with the way he or she perceives things (i .e . the bending of the pencil when submerged in water (Descartes Tweyman . Descartes furthers that due to this fallibility of experience one cannot really arrive at true knowledge by merely being dependent on what he or she perceives through experience

As a result of Descartes treatment to experience he suggests that in to arrive at genuine and true knowledge , one should suspend his or her judgment on things that are represented to him or her by experience unless such are already proven to be indubitable (Descartes Tweyman Thus , he comes up with his Method of Doubt

Locke 's Epistemological Theory

While Descartes is a rationalist defending the idea that knowledge can be drawn from reason , John Locke is an empiricist who claims that only experience can produce knowledge . As mentioned earlier , Locke is one of the most notable critics of the Cartesian Philosophy on Knowledge arguing that a mind , at first , is like a blank slate (Tabula Rasa . This blank slate can only be filled up by experience by generating ideas (Locke . Such concept of tabula rasa directly opposes the Cartesian view that there are innate ideas . Hence maintaining the fundamental empiricist 's view that there can be no other means to achieve knowledge but through experience alone

Ideas are very important elements in Locke 's epistemology because only though these ideas that the mind can come up with a particular knowledge about something . Ideas can be produced either through sensation and reflection (Locke . The difference of the two media is that in sensation , ideas are produced immediately after an exposure to a particular experience while the in reflection , the simple ideas that were initially...